Home in Hegra: My Year in Norway: 2469

Friday after school we had a quick dinner, packed our bags then Mamma, Johan and I piled into the car and drove to Trondheim to pick up Isabella. And we were off!
Where were we going?
Galdhøpiggen!
What-huh-pigeon? What is that?
The tallest mountain in Norway!
How tall is it?
2,469 meters!
How tall is that?
Approximately 8,100 feet and 4.72 inches (give or take a little)

Mount Crumpit?
Noooo..
Galdhøpiggen!

Woah!

The car ride was pretty long. 5 hours long. We had a good time talking and laughing together. Isabella and I played a game where I tried my best to pronounce the names of towns on signs then she told me the real (and very different from how I said it) name of the town.
At one point a fox ran across the road, so I rolled down my window and yelled "Hei!" to it.
My family laughed for a very, very long time. I guess it's not normal to talk to wild life... They laughed especially hard when Mamma said "Imagine what the fox was thinking!" That got me laughing too.
We stayed with another cousin, Berit. She makes her own bread and stuff. It's delicious!!
We stayed up pretty late. The cousins in this family have a bond like I've never seen before. They are so close... You can tell how much they love each other just by listening to them talk to and pick on each other. It is very special. We all stayed up pretty late.
I slept on the top bunk! I love bunk beds.

I woke up at 7:15 on Saturday morning. We ate breakfast together, then left the house at 8:10. Berit had to work, so it was only Mamma, Johan, Isabella and I going to the mountain.
On the way there, we drove along the side of a river. It was the most beautiful river I've ever seen. It was a light green-teal-ish color. I tried to get a good picture but the picture was either blurry or the color didn't show well. It was caused by the glaciers in the mountains surrounding the valley.

I wish you could see the color better but this was the
best picture I could get.

The road up to the lodge was very steep, very curvy and very bumpy. I'll admit it made me a little nervous.
We finally got to the lodge and there were over 65 people going on the hike with us! And a few dogs.
At the lodge, I noticed the temperature was -2 degrees C, which is about 28 F. However, it got much colder as we walked higher onto the mountain.

The guides started to explain things, but before they did, they asked anyone needed instructions in english. Out of the huge group only 3 of us needed english. Two German guys and I. One of the guides took us aside and told us everything in english, got us harnesses and then we started our hike.
The hike was broken up into four parts:
1. A long walk over flat land covered in huge rocks.
2. The glacier.
3. Galdhøpiggen.

Phase One

4. The return.

Phase One

Phase One:

So. Many. Rocks.

It hurt my ankles.

We made it over them.

Phase two: The Glacier.

Glacier!

Super helpful

We took a small break at the base of the glacier while the guides set up the ropes. This is where our harness came into play. There was a very helpful sign that explained with pictures if you fall into a crevace and you have the rope on, you won't go head first and you will be happy, BUT if you fall in with out a rope you will go head first and you'll be dead. The distance we had to keep between ourselves and the person ahead of us was very specific. The rope couldn't be too loose because if you or the other person fell, it would be a long fall. However the rope couldn't be taught or else the other person would just be pulling you over the glacier. I was directly behind our guide and I wasn't good at keeping the correct distance... I kept getting really close to her and the rope would drag on the ground, then I would trip on it. She just laughed at me. It was very slippery. The wind was pretty strong and chilly. I couldn't pull my head band down far enough or my turtle fur neck warmer up far enough to cover part of my face. I got pretty cold.
We weaved between some crevaces. It was so cool!

On the glacier

Looking out over the Glacier

Look out for the crevices!

I have been on a glacier!

Phase Three: Galdhøpiggen,

I MADE IT!

We took another break at the base of the mountain. It was huge! And extremely rocky with a lot of snow. Since the weather was so nice (one of the guides said it was the best day of the season so far; it was sunny with hardly any clouds and it was so clear) they allowed us to climb up on our own time. It really was a climb. The "path" up was simply snow covered rocks that had been trampeled down and made slippery by other peoples boots. It was a very difficult climb, and it seemed to take forever! A lot of times we would have to use both our hands and our feet to get over rocks or up part of the path. I felt like I was actually rock climbing at some points! And just like I was taught at the climbing gym, I discovered contol is more important than power. Balance was key; without it, there was potential to tumble off the edge of a cliff or roll down the glacier into a crevice (and that is not an exaggeration either).

Every step gets me closer
to the top.

The higher we got, the harder it got to breathe. That was a combination of being exhausted and being at such a high altitude. I would take a full breath and totally fill my lungs, but I still felt like I wasn't getting enough air. Every one was huffing and puffing.
I was starting to get discouraged because I would be able to go maybe 15 yards and I would have to stop to catch my breath, so I took a picture of my foot and thought "Every step gets me closer to the top". The next time Johan and I were resting he said "Just think Avery, every step is one more closer to the top" I lauged and told him about the picture I had just taken. Great minds think alike I guess.

Eventually... Finally... We made it! We got to the top! It was so clear and beautiful... And cold! You could see all the mountains around. To the right the mountains were soft and rounded, to the left they were jagged peaks rising from the clouds. I took a bunch of pictures. There was a little hut, and a lot of people went inside and sat and ate some food. Isabella and I decided to sit and look at the jagged mountains. I didn't hike up to 2469 meters to sit inside for 45 minutes! Isabella agreed. I ate some chocolate I had brought with me. Then I bought a Galdhøpiggen T-shirt.

Kvikk Lunsj!

Isabella and I took a few fun pictures, then all too soon it was time to climb back down.

Off the edge!

Phase four: The Return.

We left the summit at 2 and reconviened at the base of the mountain at 2:30.
Climbing down was almost harder than going up. So many people slipped and fell (including Johan and I!) One lady hurt her leg pretty bad, but after a few minutes of resting she was able to make it down just fine.

Taking a little rest before crossing
the glacier again.

Itwasdefinitley a group effort to get down. Then Johan and I figured out if you were basically sitting already, then you couldn't really fall. I crab walked down most of that mountain.

When we got to the bottom, we hooked back into the ropes and our guide led us down the glacier. It was still very slippery. I slipped... it was less than spectacular and I'm not even sure how it happend because when I fell I wound up sitting cross-legged on the glacier for a moment before I figured out I had slipped. When we got to the base of the glacier they let us go back to the lodge at our own pace. The trip back across the rocks seemed twice as long as it did originally.
I learned a new word!

The lodge was nicely decorated.

Varde!
It means those piles of rocks that people make. When you get to one, you are allowed to add a stone as a mark that you have been there too! There were SO many of them on this hike. I added a rock to every single one that I saw.
Finally we got back to the lodge. We all collapsed into the car. I think it's safe to say we were all pretty tired.
We had tacos for dinner! Yum!
After dinner we went to a bolwing alley that had a band playing (atu much?). It was so fun! We were supposed to pay to get in, but nobody was guarding the door so we didn't have to. I swing danced a little with Johan. I had no clue what I was doing, but he is so good at dancing! I really want to learn.

In the town where Berit lives there is a cliff face that has a spot light on it at night. I asked why and there is a story of a man that hitch hiked with a troll and the troll told him not to look back, but of course the man did and he saw the troll disappear into the stone there, which is said to be the troll's home. For the rest of his life the man's head stuck always was looking over his shoulder as punishment.

Musk ox!

Sunday we left before noon. On the ride home I was really hoping to see a moskusen... a musk ox (on our ride there it was way to dark to try to see any). We got to see one! It was so cool! Normally they are solitary animals, but a few minutes after we saw the first one, we saw five more! All together! And one was a baby! It was so adorable. I told Isabella that I really appriciated how Norway was pulling out all the stops for me and she assured me that the group of musk oxen was just for me!

Troll!

We stopped at some point so I could get my picture taken with a big troll statue.
I slept some in the car. Mamma bought fresh sweet rolls. They were so good!
We dropped Isabella off and headed home. We got burgers for dinner... with bacon (of course).
Finally we arrived home. We were all very tired.
The whole weekend was amazing! I couldn't have asked for better weather or better company.